Once again, the managed care industry is using a major national TV campaign to assure the public that - contrary to popular belief - the country's heatlhcare quality is improving. The campaign, launched earlier this month, marks the second time The Coalition for Affordable Quality Healthcare invested significant dollars into network advertising to improve its suffering image. This time, however, their pockets are deeper and physicians are playing a more significant role. Last year, the coalition spent $6 million on the public awareness campaign. This year, the budget climbed to $10.5 million.
What's at stake is an escalating climate of consumer and physician backlash. Hollywood regularly promotes HMO horror stories with shows like "ER" and "As Good As It Gets." And physicians are increasingly voicing their dismay with the lack of control they have in an HMO environment. Further evidence of this sentiment is the American Medical Association's recent decision to form a union to strengthen physicians' negotiating muscle.
Reality Check
The campaign features doctors who relay - in their own words - the positive experiences they've had with managed care.
"The reality is that managed care has done a good job of maintaining costs and introducing new philosophies of care that are effective but which are not widely reported," says Roger Bolton, chairman of the coalition and SVP of corporate communications for Aetna U.S. Healthcare.
The doctors in the ads highlight how managed care is enhancing prevention efforts and identifying potentially life-threatening illnesses early.
To successfully put a dint in the public's negative perception of managed care, however, takes more than "feel good" messages. The bottom line is if physicians aren't more satisfied with the industry, patients will continue to have reservations. When the coalition conducted a physician poll to gauge their attitudes about managed care the findings indicate that there is much work to be done.
(Coalition for Affordable Quality Healhcare, Roger Bolton, 203/972-7790)
What's Up Doc?
The Coalition for Affordable Quality Healthcare recently commissioned a study of 1,000 physicians nationwide and found that:
- The term "HMOs" did not score well with primary care physicians who gave it a 10 percent positive rating.
- Physicians have more positive feelings about preferred provider organizations (PPOs) and point of service (POS) plans.
- Physicians in plans that are not dominated by managed care say that 26 percent of disease management programs provide high-quality care. While physicians in plans that are greatly influenced by managed care report that 41 percent of these programs provide high quality care.